The present disclosure relates generally to portable electronic devices, and more particularly to a smart dock for communicating with a portable electronic device to activate a voice recognition mode.
Portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones, have become ubiquitous in today's society, as have the peripheral electronic devices that support their use, such as docking stations and the like. Some portable electronic devices, such as the iPhone™ (made by Apple Inc., assignee of the present application), can provide users with a variety of services in addition to facilitating telephone calls. Such services can include messaging (voice, SMS, e-mail, instant messaging, application messaging, etc.), management and playback of media content (music, videos, audiobooks, photos, documents, etc.), storage of personal data (calendar, contacts, notes, etc.), Internet access, and the ability to execute various applications.
In order to utilize the various functionalities provided by a portable electronic device, a user typically must interact with their device using finger controls and/or a graphical user interface (GUI) included on their device. However, such interaction requires that the portable electronic device be in close proximity to the user (e.g., in the user's hand). If the user is not proximate to their portable electronic device (e.g., if their device is connected to a charging power source on the other side of the room), the user may be unable to utilize the various services provided by their device in a timely and convenient manner.
Some existing portable electronic devices include voice recognition capabilities that allow a user to access the various functionalities on their device using audible voice commands. However, the utilization of such voice recognition capabilities in existing devices typically involves an initial activation step requiring the user to interact with the finger controls and/or GUI of their device before voice commands can be processed.